Mexico's transport and communications ministry (SCT) plans to invest more than 57bn pesos (US$4.75bn) in highway and road projects during 2011, according to minister Dionisio Pérez-Jácome.

The ministry will carry out construction and modernization of some 4,200km of highway as well as repair and maintenance work on more than 1,200km of rural roads, SCT said in a release.

Improving the connectivity of the highway system with urban roadways via interchanges, overpasses and underpasses is key to avoiding congestion and pollution, Pérez-Jácome said.

The minister made the comments during the opening of five new overpasses in Aguascalientes, capital of the central state of the same name. The new road infrastructure is expected to lower emissions in the area by 25,000t/y.